Last reviewed: 21 October 2026

Halloween abroad depends heavily on where you teach. In Spain it is a children’s party sitting next to the Todos los Santos holiday. In Japan it is a costume event that Shibuya actively discourages on its streets. In South Korea it has been subdued since the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush. In the Gulf it varies school by school.

Key takeaways

• Halloween began in Ireland as Samhain, but the version most schools abroad know is the American one, and every country has reshaped it.
• In Spain, 1 November, Todos los Santos, is a national public holiday. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday, and nine regions move the day off to Monday 2 November.
• In Japan, private English schools often run Halloween events, while Shibuya Ward asks people not to treat its streets as a Halloween venue and bans street drinking around Shibuya Station from 6pm to 5am all year.
• In South Korea, the Itaewon crowd crush on 29 October 2022 killed 159 people, and many schools and academies scaled back Halloween afterwards.
• In the Gulf, expat communities and many international schools celebrate, but some schools do not allow costumes at all.
• Wherever you teach, ask your Director of Studies what the school expects before you buy a costume.

Why does Halloween look so different from one TEFL country to the next?

Halloween looks different abroad because most countries imported it recently, usually through American films and shops, and then fitted it around festivals they already had. For an Irish teacher that can feel strange. The festival grew from Samhain, the Celtic marking of the end of the harvest, and Irish emigrants carried its customs to North America. The British Council’s LearnEnglish magazine piece on Halloween traces that journey in learner friendly English. What comes back to you in a Madrid academy or a Tokyo conversation school is usually the American retelling, with pumpkins instead of turnips.

For private language schools, Halloween is also good marketing. A children’s party or costume lesson gives parents something to photograph and gives the school something to post, which is why private academies tend to embrace it more than state schools. Government schools in many countries follow the local calendar instead, and that calendar may have its own day of remembrance a day or two later.

The result is that Halloween at work can mean anything from a full school parade to a polite instruction not to mention it. The table below is a starting point. Your own school’s expectations always win.

What is Halloween like for TEFL teachers in Spain?

In Spain, Halloween has become a firm favourite with children and language academies, but it sits beside a far older tradition: Todos los Santos, All Saints’ Day, on 1 November. Many academies hold a Halloween party or costume class for their young learners in the last week of October, and as the native speaker on the staff you may well be asked to run it.

Todos los Santos is a national public holiday and a family occasion, when many Spaniards visit cemeteries to leave flowers for relatives. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday, so the official calendar of public holidays published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado moves the day off to Monday 2 November in Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Madrid and Navarra. If you teach in one of those regions, expect a long weekend.

Regional autumn festivals add their own flavour. Catalonia celebrates the Castanyada around 31 October with roasted chestnuts and panellets, small marzipan sweets, and Galicia has its Magosto chestnut festivals. In Barcelona, do not be surprised if your students know more about chestnuts than pumpkins. Our guide to Barcelona academy pay and the auxiliares grant covers the city’s teaching market, and our guide to TEFL jobs in Spain covers the rest of the country.

One practical point for academy teachers: children’s Halloween parties usually happen in the afternoon or early evening, which is exactly your busiest teaching time. Ask early whether the party replaces normal classes or comes on top of them.

Maia’s story follows one graduate’s TEFL experience in Spain as an Erasmus student, a route many Irish and EU students take into Spanish classrooms.

What is Halloween like for TEFL teachers in Japan?

In Japan, Halloween is a big commercial costume event and private English schools often lean into it, but the street party side is now actively discouraged. If you work at an eikaiwa, a conversation school, or a children’s English school, a Halloween lesson, costume day or small party in late October is common. Assistant language teachers in public schools may also be asked to teach a Halloween class as a cultural lesson.

Outside school, the picture has changed a great deal. Shibuya, whose Scramble Crossing used to fill with costumed crowds every 31 October, first restricted street drinking around Halloween in 2019. A revised ordinance from 1 October 2024 extended the ban on drinking in the street around Shibuya Station to the whole year, and Tokyo Weekender reports that it now runs every night from 6pm to 5am. The ward has said repeatedly that Shibuya is not a Halloween event venue, and neighbouring Shinjuku restricts street drinking around Kabukicho on Halloween night as well.

In 2026, 31 October falls on a Saturday, so expect a heavy security presence around Shibuya Station that weekend. If you want to join in, organised parades and cosplay events in other districts are the more relaxed choice. Our guide to teaching English in Japan as an Irish graduate explains the routes into Japanese schools, and if the JET Programme is on your list, the 2027 Irish application closes on 4 December 2026, as Hire Wire Issue 6 sets out in full.

What is Halloween like for TEFL teachers in South Korea?

In South Korea, Halloween has been far quieter since the Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul on 29 October 2022, in which 159 people were killed during Halloween celebrations. Before then, Halloween was a big night out for young Koreans and foreigners in Itaewon and Hongdae, and many hagwons, the private after school academies, held costume parties for their students.

In the year after the disaster, Korean media reported that retailers, amusement parks, kindergartens and private academies widely cancelled Halloween events, and the Korea JoongAng Daily noted English kindergartens and academies swapping Halloween parties for Thanksgiving festivities. Practice has varied from academy to academy since then, and the anniversary falls just two days before Halloween, so it remains a sensitive date.

The sensible approach for a new teacher is simple: do not assume anything. Ask your academy what it does, keep any classroom activity gentle, and never make jokes about crowds. If you are choosing between a public school placement and a private academy, our comparison of EPIK and hagwons explains how the two differ, and couples can read our guide to teaching English in South Korea as a couple.

What is Halloween like for TEFL teachers in the Gulf?

In the Gulf, Halloween depends almost entirely on your school and your neighbourhood. In Dubai, Gulf News has reported trick or treating in villa communities, themed events at malls and attractions, and costume shows at some nurseries. Many international schools with large expat communities mark the day in some way, from a dress up day to a themed lesson.

Other schools do not, and they say so plainly. In October 2025 one Dubai school wrote to parents that it does not celebrate Halloween at school, asked that no Halloween costumes or sweets be brought in, and reminded families that clothing must be modest and respect the culture of the UAE. If you teach in a school with a mainly Emirati or wider Arab intake, or in a more conservative emirate, expect less Halloween rather than more.

Two practical points. Dress codes matter even at parties, so a costume that is fine in Dublin may not be fine in a public place. And before you accept any Gulf post, read the Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice for the United Arab Emirates. At the time of writing it advises Irish citizens against non-essential travel to the UAE, which can also affect travel insurance. Our guide to what Dubai and Abu Dhabi international schools require covers licensing and recruitment.

How should you handle Halloween at a new school abroad?

Ask your Director of Studies or line manager in early October what the school expects, then plan around that answer rather than around Irish habits. Five questions cover most situations:

• Does the school celebrate Halloween, and is there a party, parade or costume day?
• Are teachers expected to dress up, and are there rules on costumes or face paint?
• Can sweets be handed out, given allergies and parents’ preferences?
• Is there a local festival or holiday around the same time that matters more to families?
• Are there any topics, images or dates to avoid?

In class, keep a language aim at the centre. A Halloween lesson that teaches adjectives, narrative tenses or question forms is easy to defend to any parent; a lesson that is mostly a horror film is not. For young learners, keep it cute rather than frightening. Our guide to bringing Halloween into your TEFL classroom has activities that suit most settings, and you can swap the theme to autumn or harvest if your school prefers.

It is also worth being curious. Asking students how their families mark the start of November, whether that means Todos los Santos in Seville or a quiet evening in Seoul, makes for a richer lesson than any pumpkin worksheet, and it shows the school you understand where you are.

Does Halloween still feel Irish when you teach abroad?

For many Irish teachers, Halloween abroad is the moment they notice how Irish the festival really is. Students are often surprised to hear that the first jack o lanterns were carved from turnips, that a barmbrack hides a ring, and that the whole night began as Samhain. Telling that story makes a gift of a lesson, and it brings a bit of home into late October, which is often when the first wave of homesickness arrives.

Irish pubs from Madrid to Dubai often run Halloween nights too, which can be an easy way to meet other Irish people in a new city. Just check the local rules on where you can drink and what you can wear before you go.

Ready for your first Halloween abroad?

Whether your first Halloween abroad is in a Valencia academy or a Busan hagwon, a recognised qualification is what gets you there. Our accredited 120 hour TEFL course is studied online and covers the lesson planning and classroom management that make seasonal lessons easy, and our country guides compare jobs, pay and visas across around 60 destinations.

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